Inventing the Feeble Mind: A History of Mental Retardation in the United States

James W. Trent uses public documents, private letters, investigative reports, and rare photographs to explore our changing perceptions of mental retardation over the past 150 years. He contends that the economic vulnerability of mentally retarded people (and their families), more than the claims made for their intellectual or social limitations, has determined their institutional treatment.

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Page 7 - Simple Simon met a pieman Going to the fair; Says Simple Simon to the pieman, "Let me taste your ware." Says the pieman to Simple Simon, "Show me first your penny;" Says Simple Simon to the pieman, "Indeed, I have not any." Simple Simon went to look If plums grew on a thistle; He pricked his fingers very much, Which made poor Simon whistle.

Page 7 - SIMPLE Simon met a pieman Going to the fair; Says Simple Simon to the pieman, "Let me taste your ware." Says the pieman to Simple Simon, "Show me first your penny"; Says Simple Simon to the pieman. "Indeed I have not any." Simple Simon went a-fishing For to catch a whale; All the water he had got Was in his mother's pail. Simple Simon went to look If plums grew on a thistle; He pricked his fingers very much, Which made poor Simon whistle A PLEASANT SHIP I SAW a ship a-sailing, A-sailing on the sea,...